**About the Editors**

#### **Giancarlo Panzica**

Prof. Giancarlo Panzica, currently Honorary Professor at the University of Torino and Principal Investigator at the Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO), started his research career as an electron microscopist, performing studies on synaptic developments of the chicken optic tectum. Later, he became interested in the neuroanatomical organization of the hypothalamus, which he studied both through Golgi impregnation and electron microscopy. Following these studies, he began to explore the neural circuits controlling sexual behaviour and gonadal hormone dependence through interdisciplinary methods; in particular, the vasopressin and the NO-producing systems, as well as the roles that gonadal hormones play in modulating them

In the last 15 years, his main research topic has been the behavioural and neural effects of the precocious exposure to environmental endocrine disruptors, covering the effects of several endocrine disruptors.

Prof. Panzica is also the organizer of a series of conferences which are held in Torino, dedicated to the effects of steroids on the nervous system.

He has published about 200 papers in international, peer-reviewed journals.

#### **Stefano Gotti**

Stefano Gotti is an Associate Professor of Human Anatomy at the University of Torino, and Co-PI in the Neuroendocrinology Lab at the Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO). He obtained his PhD in Neuroscience in 2004. His research originally focused on morphological studies of the distribution of several neurotransmitters in rodent brains. Later, he became interested in behavioural and morphological analysis regarding the effect of a "bad" environment on the development of neural circuits in rodents. Work in recent years on endocrine disruptors and on disease models such as anorexia nervosa fall into this vein. His research has been published in numerous international peer-reviewed journals.

#### **Paloma Collado Guirao**

Paloma Collado is a Professor of Psychobiology at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) in Spain. She obtained her PhD in Psychobiology in 1990. Her research since has been focused on the field of physiological psychology, and for the last fifteen years, she has explored the mechanisms involved in the development of the cerebral circuits that control food intake in rodents, and particularly on the vulnerability of hypothalamic circuits that regulate energy homeostasis in under- and over-nutrition, as well as the potential modulating factors during the development of adverse effects that an inadequate nutrition produces. She has developed this research as the Principal Investigator of different grants in collaboration with researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Turin, and the Department of Endocrinology of Universitary Hospital Nino Jesus. ˜ Her research has been published in international peer-reviewed journals.
